Amnesty on China's Arms Exports

Yesterday Amnesty International released a report showing how Chinese weapons have helped sustain brutal conflicts, criminal violence and other grave human rights violations in countries such as Sudan, Nepal, Myanmar and South Africa. This report is carried by the BBC and in today’s Independent.

In addition to selling major conventional weapons including tanks and ballistic missiles, China sells substantial amounts of small arms and security equipment to armies and police forces. The total value of its arms exports is approximately $1bn a year.

"China's arms exports policy is reckless and dangerous, paying no heed to human rights," said Amnesty International's UK director, Kate "In a bid to continue economic expansion and grab a slice of the lucrative global weapons market, China has shipped arms into conflict zones and to countries that torture and repress their people.

Since it entered the global arms market 20 years ago, China has supplied an arsenal of military, security and police equipment to countries with a record of human rights violations. In particular, Amnesty criticizes China’s supply of military equipment to Sudan despite well-documented and widespread killings, rapes and abductions by government forces and its militia in Darfur. In Nepal, China has supplied small arms and light weapons to the armed forces, which have been responsible for much of the killings and torture, often of civilians.

Chinese authorities consider the Amnesty report to be baseless. In today’s Xinhua Teng Jianqun, a researcher with the China Arms Control and Disarmament Association, stated that China has always put its limited arms export under strict control and surveillance, denouncing Amnesty International's slams on China's arms trade as irresponsible and groundless.

Much attention has been focused in recent months on China's role in selling arms and technology usable in nuclear weapons to Iran, a long-time ally and trading partner. China has been linked to sales of high-quality uranium gas to Tehran for an enrichment programme which could eventually produce nuclear weapons. Amnesty said it is not just major weapons of mass destruction that are the problem and it is the weaponry on a smaller scale that is contributing to a worsening human rights situation.

China’s contribution to the arms trade may still be rather smaller than other nations but it is clear that it is showing all of the amorality that goes with that business. Should I be surprised? Of course not! When a repressive nation such as China gets its snout into the trough of international trade there is no reason to expect it to play with a “straight bat”.